There was animation before Walt Disney. They just made it better and more popular. A clear example of it's not about who does it first it's who does it better. If Disney shut down its animation division, I can't picture them keeping it closed for long in any hypothetical. It was an open market and an inevitable area of revenue.

The studio had taken a million dollar hit. They definitely transformed the industry but can you honestly say that another studio wouldn't have come along and done the same exact thing.

Do I think that we'd have different animated movies if they had? yes. Do I think the entire animation landscape would be different? Hypothetically, No. Every invention or creation of technology has been improved upon almost universally since the telegraph.

Weird fact, my great-grandfather was the vice president of finance for Disney for 20 years. Still, haven't gone to Disney lol.

^^There would be other repercussions throughout the industry beyond just the impact on the specific movies of the Disney Animated Canon. Walt's hiring philosophy was very different from a lot of other producers', & that has carried on to most of his successors. I don't think Pixar or Marvel Studios would've had the same creative freedom they thrive on if they'd been acquired by other companies, & we just straight up would have no more Star Wars films at this point, because nobody else would've been able to afford to buyout Lucasfilm.

i mean this is an impossible to answer question because you're asking us to imagine a universe without a highly celebrated company that's been at the forefront of its industry for decades

what if apple didn't exist? what if nintendo never got into the home console market? what if the beatles spent their careers in obscurity? it's hard to say much more than "things would be a lot different and it's really hard to grasp how much"